New Programming At The FCC--Bureaucrats Gone Wild!

There have been rumors for some time that the F.C.C. is planning to implement a Net Neutrality regulation on the Internet, despite a Federal Court ruling that the F.C.C. does not have that authority.  During a special Ed Show edition on MSNBC, Al Sharpton asserted that the FCC will hold public hearings on alleged racist comments by his rival Rush Limbaugh.  So an Independent Federal Agency feels free to ignore explicit limits on their authority from the Judicial Branch.  And progressives have a friend wielding a baton of authority to conduct show trials against their ideological authorities.

Net Neutrality is a controversial pubic policy issue, which would regulate the Internet, the bastion of free speech in the digital age. As late as April 2010,  Julius Genachowski, the Chairman of the FCC, insists that they do not want to regulate the Internet or become the nation’s net nanny.  The FCC’s assertion of ancillary jurisdiction was rejected in the Comcast case. Yet the FCC has scheduled a vote on Net Neutrality for December 21st.  So much for checks and balance and limited government.

As for the scrutiny of content issue, Al Sharpton was blustering about how “some of the commissioners” were interested in following up with his concerns over racism on the airwaves.  Clearly, Sharpton was aiming for a crusade against Rush Limbaugh, who has been quite critical about the Obama Administration and the antics of the Democrat majority.  Since the FCC is appointed in equal measures from partisan perspectives, it is likely that liberal members would offer expressions to assuage Sharpton’s race centered complaints.

If those positive comments were more than Tea and Sympathy, it is worrisome that Government appointees think that they can conduct hearings to expose or attack those exercising their right of free speech.  Limbaugh’s show is nationally syndicated, but Rush does not hold radio spectrum licenses.  So such an investigation would have to scrutinize stations in the “Excellence in Broadcasting” Network and claim that these stations were not serving the public interest.

Entertaining Sharpton’s complaints put a chill on a fundamental American right.  Intimidating stations who broadcast Limbaugh has the government picking winners and losers in the marketplace and has the government impinging on free speech.  A major motivation for enshrining the First Amendment in the Constitution is the right of citizens to redress the government and to speak freely of politics.

It is remarkable to experience another example of Liberal Fascism, where the left wants to use its power to control the free market, yet the left (and libertarians) are anxious to adulate Julian Assange, the Wiki-leaker, as he can be characterized as open society whistle-blower, who hopes that anarchy can overcome American hegemony.

Via: Newsbusters
Via: Reason
Via: RedState